Chapter Twenty-One

Ellie collapsed back on the bed, every muscle limp.

Harry rose, and when she peeked at him from below her lashes he was standing at the foot of the bed. He'd removed his shirt, and her mouth grew dry at the sight of his wide shoulders and the smooth curves of his biceps.

So this was what he'd been hiding under those elegant clothes. She bit back a sigh. However expensive his tailoring, it was a crime to cover a body as beautiful as his with fabric. Her gaze moved lower, over tawny male nipples and the strong ridges of his stomach, then down to the intriguing line of hair that ran from his navel and disappeared into the top of his breeches.

"Feeling drowsy?" he teased.

"Not yet."

Might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb.

"Perhaps you should take that dress off, then. Make yourself more comfortable."

She smiled. "It isn't easy sleeping in a bodice. But I don't have a maid to help me with the laces."

His expression turned wolfish. "Allow me. Roll over."

She turned onto her stomach and buried her face in the coverlet. The woodsy scent of him clung to the luxurious blue satin and made her belly flutter. The mattress dipped as he rested his knee beside her thigh, and she felt the tug on the laces that fastened her bodice at the back.

Her heart began to pound.

The constriction of the inbuilt stays loosened in tiny increments, and she sucked in a deep breath, glad to be released from the stylish imprisonment. The back of the dress opened fully, revealing her muslin chemise beneath, and his warm fingers traced the bumps of her spine through the sheer fabric.

"Turn over and sit up."

Ellie did so, careful not to crush the delicate silk. She slid to the edge of the bed and stood, holding the loose fabric of the bodice to her chest as she looked up into his face.

"Dresses like this should be illegal." He reached out and smoothed her hair back over her shoulder. "They're a threat to public safety. They cause accidents in the street, make sane men lose their senses. Step out of it."

She forced her fingers to release their grip, and the treacherous silk slid down her body like water. It caught momentarily on her hips, but a little wiggle freed it again, and the whole thing pooled at her feet like a mossy green puddle.

Heat scalded her cheeks. The chemise Madame Lef è vre had provided stopped just above her knees, and was scandalously transparent; her peaked nipples must be clearly visible to his roving gaze.

"Ready to turn in?"

His teasing growl bolstered her confidence. He wasn't entirely unaffected, no matter how cool he pretended to be. She bit her lip, and was pleased to see a hungry look flash across his face.

"Not quite yet. Perhaps you could tell me a bedtime story?"

A muscle ticked in his jaw. "Very well."

She sat down on the edge of the bed and glanced up at him expectantly. He came to stand in front of her, his long fingers resting teasingly on the top button of his falls. "Once upon a time there lived a thief."

"A handsome, wicked thief?"

He nodded and undid the first button. "Very. One day this thief met a studious female investigator, and, for the first time in his life, he got a taste of his own medicine."

Ellie gave a fake gasp of shock. "She stole something from him? Surely not!"

"I'm afraid so." He popped the second button and sent her a look from beneath his brows. "She wasn't nearly as innocent as she seemed."

"What did she do?"

"She stole the breath from his lungs with a scandalous dress. And then she kissed him, and stole the wits from his head, as well."

Her heart gave a joyous little flutter, even though she knew he was only being flippant. He'd probably used the same words on half a dozen women.

"Serves him right," she said stoutly. "He probably deserved it."

He released another button with a smirk. "Oh, don't worry. He got his revenge."

Ellie pressed her lips together to stifle her laugh. "How? By stealing her innocence?"

He shook his head, his mismatched eyes hooded and dark. "Oh, no. That she gave willingly. There was no stealing involved."

"What, then?"

"He stole something even better. Her heart."

"The scoundrel!"

He leaned closer, deliciously menacing. "And he never, ever gave it back."

Before Ellie could come up with a suitable retort, he released the fourth and final button. His cock sprung free, and she lost her train of thought, watching in fascination as he wrapped his fingers around it and gave it a gentle squeeze.

She'd never seen an aroused male before. Not in the flesh. Tess's naughty engraving had shown an erect phallus, true, but it had been two-dimensional, black and white, merely theoretical, whereas Harry was right here in front of her, thick and long and very real.

"I think you were right about book-learning," she breathed. "There's no substitute for practical firsthand experience."

"Does your hand want to experience it?" His jaw clenched as he stroked himself again, slowly up and down, and she nodded.

She reached out and trailed her fingers over the hard ridges of his stomach, then stroked down to the tangle of curls. With a growl of impatience, he caught her hand and wrapped her fingers around his length, covering them with his own, and she gasped, fascinated by the paradoxical combination of rigid muscle and silky-soft skin. He was hot .

He gave her fingers a squeeze, then pulled their joined hands away with a rueful sound.

"Enough of that, or our joint investigation will be concluded very quickly."

She knew what he was referring to. Tess and Daisy had explained the mechanics of lovemaking in helpfully graphic terms. Men experienced the same pleasurable convulsions as she herself had just received from his hand, but when they did, they released a fluid that could impregnate a woman if he happened to be inside her.

Ellie bit her lip. Courtesans, presumably, had frank discussions with men all the time, but she was unsure how to delicately phrase her request.

"I know this isn't the most convenient moment, but… I can't risk conceiving a child."

Harry reached forward and cupped her jaw, stroking his thumb over her lips in a slow caress that made her shiver.

"I didn't dream that you'd be here with me tonight, so I don't have anything prepared. Sheaths need soaking before they can be used. But if you trust me, there are other things we can do. I can take my pleasure, and give it to you, without risking your reputation."

Ellie caught his hand and interlaced their fingers. "I trust you."

It was true. At least partially. She trusted him with her body, if not with her heart. And her body was clamoring for more.

He let out a slow exhale, as if he'd been braced for rejection, then leaned forward and kissed her with a passion that took her breath away.

His knee pressed the mattress near her hip and she lay back on the bed as he crawled over her. His mastery was thrilling, irresistible, and she surrendered to it with a needy moan.

"God, Ellie, I want you so much. Please, let me touch you."

His hands slid into the curve of her waist, then down, over her chemise and bare thighs. Desperate to feel her skin against his, she lifted her hips, helping him pull the chemise up and over her head in a blur of movement, hardly breaking their kiss.

She was left in just her stockings and garters.

Her breasts came into contact with the warm skin of his chest, but she barely had time to register the sensation before he slid down her body and fastened his lips over her nipple. His wicked tongue licked and flicked the peak, while his left hand cupped her other breast, stroking it with a kneading rhythm that made her blood feel like molten lava in her veins.

"I've wanted to do this since I first saw you," he murmured. "I wanted to spirit you away and do precisely this."

She threaded her fingers through his hair and pulled his head back up, shocked by the intensity of the pleasure. He captured her mouth again, sharing her breath, his hips rocking against hers. The hot length of his cock pressed against her stomach, rigid, almost painful, and he let out an impassioned groan.

"So perfect," he whispered. "So perfect it's a crime. Open your legs for me, Ellie."